Farmers on the Indus River Delta. Over the years the water has dried up and sea has ingressed inland. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen EbrahimKARACHI, Aug 21 2019 – Gulab Shah, 45, is having sleepless nights. He and his family are worried about their imminent migration from their village in Jhaloo to a major city in Pakistan, thanks to the continued ingress of sea water inland.

“That is all that I and my brothers discuss day and night,” he told IPS over telephone from his village which lies near Kharo Chan, in Sindh province’s Thatta district.

He and his family also talk about what it “will mean living among strangers, in a strange place; adopting an unfamiliar lifestyle; losing culture and identity”.

Of the nearly 6,000 acres of land that Shah’s father inherited, over 2,500 acres have slowly been swallowed by the sea over the last 70 years.

And even though they still have enough land to sell to enable them to set up their home in a city, “there are no buyers!” Shah proclaimed.

“Nobody wants to buy land that they know is going to be submerged soon,” he said.

And if they stay, they do not have enough farm hands to work on their land. “Every year more and more people, mostly farmhands, are moving out of here as there is less work for them,” Shah explained.

For millions of years, the River Indus sustained the marshes, the 17 creeks, miles of swamps, mangrove forests and the mudflats along with the various estuarine habitats in the fan-shaped Indus delta, before reaching its final destination and emptying into the Arabian Sea. It marks a journey of 3,000 km from the Himalayas.

Generations of families have lived in the Indus River Delta. But as the flow of the river has reduced drastically over the years many are leaving and making their way to the cities in search of a better way of life. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Today this Ramsar Site, a wetland of international importance, is parched and dying a slow death.

The dams and barrages on the river sucked the fresh river and stopped it from reaching the delta. It also resulted in a reduction of sediment deposition, giving the sea a perfect opportunity to ingress into the land.

Climate change has had an impact too here. The rains are unpredictable now, water levels don’t increase and conversely over the years there has been an increased demand for water for both agricultural activities and a growing population.

If the delta gets 10 million acre feet (MAF) consistently over the 12 months, or 5,000 cubic feet per seconds daily, as promised through the provincial water apportionment Accord of 1991, the delta would thrive.

However, that is not the case. “Along the way, from the mountains to the sea, there is shortage, pilferagecoupled with losses due to an ageing distribution system,” explained Usman Tanveer, the deputy commissioner or principal representative of the provincial government in the district of Thatta.

“We require a well regulated water management system from the time the water leaves the mountains till it reaches the Arabian Sea,” he told IPS.

He pointed out that as a specialised subject, water needs to be looked into more scientifically. For example, said Tanveer, “First and foremost, we need proper research and experts to be able to plan for future water needs and this includes coming up with finding optimal conservation solutions, natural sites if small dams have to be built (instead of frowning upon whenever the D [dam] word is brought up).”

“We need to have a legal framework in place so thefts are deterred, and most importantly, an integrated mechanism to collect water acess from every user,” he concluded.

A 2018 report by United States-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCASW) at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro, using historical maps and field research, noted that back in 1833 the delta spanned some 12,900 square kilometres (sq km); today it was a mere 1,000 sq km.

“The human impact on the environment, the change in the natural flow of the river, resulting in reduction in sediment deposition, and sea-level ingress and climate change have resulted in the contraction of the delta,” said Dr. Altaf Ali Siyal, who heads the Integrated Water Resources Management Department (IWRM) at USPCASW, and is the principal author of the delta report.The study concluded the delta today constitutes just 8 to 10 percent of its original expanse.

But many living in the delta believed it would began to die when man reined in the mighty Indus. The construction of the Sukkur barrage (1923 to 1932) by the British, followed by Kotri barrage in 1955 and Guddu in 1962, squeezed the life out of the once-verdant delta.

Prior to this Sindh province received 150 MAF of water annually, now it is less than one-tenth of this at only 10 MAF annually. “It would be even better if it receives between 25 to 35 MAF water so that it can return to its past grandeur,” Siyal told IPS.

Take the case of the Shah’s land.

“Till 10 years back about 400 acres were still cultivable,” said Shah. However, this year, they were able to cultivate just 150 acres. “Acute water shortages on the one hand and increased salinity on the other, has made it impossible to till all of our land,” he explained.

Until the 1990s his family grew the “sweetest bananas” and the finest vegetables on over 400 acres of land. They had led a prosperous life.

All of that is lost now.

Two years back, because of acute shortage of water, Shah and his brothers decided to grow the heart-shaped green betel leaf, locally called paan, over 12 acres of land.

But Dr. Hassan Abbas, an expert in hydrology and water resources has both long term and short term solutions to revive the delta.

“One would be to rejuvenate the natural course of the river the way United Kingdom, the United States and even Australia are by dismantling dams and adopting the free flowing river model,” he told IPS.

“A free flowing model is one where water, silt, and other natural materials can move along unobstructed. But more importantly, it’s one by which the ecological integrity of the entire river system is maintained as a whole,” explained Abbas.

The other, more imminent, solution is to address the way farmers irrigate. “We need to make agriculture water-efficient without compromising on our yield. The water saved thus can be allowed to flow back into its course and regenerate the delta.”

Hehas a pilot in mind that can build the confidence and capacity of the farmers when it comes to water-efficient farming, and at the same time, stopping the supply of water in that area by blocking one canal.

“See if it is socially and economically acceptable to the farmers and the environmental benefits accrued,” he said, adding, “If there is a positive side, more canals can be closed.”

However, a quick and cost-effective manner of addressing water shortage, in cities like Karachi, said Abbas, was through exploiting the riverine corridors of active floodplains.

“The Indus has 6.5 km of flood plain on either side which has sweet sand under which is the cleanest mineral water you can get. Most of the big cities are not more than 3km away from the river bed. All that needs to be done is to pump that water up from the depth of 300 to 400 feet using, say solar energy, and supply it to the cities through pipes,” explained the hydrologist.

But what about the Shah’s village in the delta?

“It is far, about 200 km from the river,” agreed Abbas, conceding the people in the delta urgently needed to be supplied with drinking water.

“It would require a much longer pipeline, but would still be cheaper to transport the same water that way,” he said.

According to him, there is anywhere from 350 to 380 MAF of water available in the riverine aquifer. “We Pakistanis need at the most 15 or a maximum of 20 MAF/year, (this is excluding water for agriculture) to meet our needs. It is a much cheaper option at two to three billion dollars than a dam costing 17 billion dollars!”

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By Jan LundiusSTOCKHOLM / ROME, Aug 21 2019 – As I often do, I recently discussed the Syrian Civil War with a friend of Lebanese origin. He is far from supporting the Syrian regime, which occupied his country of origin between 1989-2008. My friend assumes the Syrian government was behind the assassination of Lebanon´s prime minister Bachir Gemayel, who in 1982 together with 26 others were blown to pieces by a bomb planted at the headquarters of the Lebanese Forces. He also suspects Syria was behind the death of former prime minister Rafik Harari, who in 2005 was killed in a car bomb explosion. However, this does not make my friend an admirer of Israel or the U.S., which together with Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia meddle in Syria´s bloody internal strife. It is an almost impossible task to disentangle the mess of warring fractions guided by corrupt politicians, religious fanatics, liberal politicians, bandits, Mafiosi and/or foreign commercial and strategical stakeholders.

Credit: Javier Manzano

My friend and I talked about what we had learned about the Syrian Army, which is supported by pro-government armed groups like Hezbollah, a Shia militia backed by Iran. However, the most powerful ally of Bashar al-Assad, Syria´s current president, is Russia that with full military force on 30 September 2015 interfered in Syria´s internal conflicts. It is rarely mentioned that since 1971 the Soviet Union/Russia has an agreement with the Syrian Government to maintain a naval base in Tartus, actually its only naval facility in the Mediterranean region and Russia´s only remaining, military installation outside the former Soviet Union. Furthermore, in close-by Latakia Russia has established its biggest “signals intelligence base” outside Russian territory. 1 Apart from safeguarding its military bases Russia´s support to the Assad regime may be considered as a move to recast Russia as a decisive player in the region, reviving its image as a major rival to the USA in the management of global affairs.

USA has ever since the Syrian Arab Republic´s independence in 1946 been apprehensive of this nation that it perceives as an enemy to USA´s Middle Eastern allies – Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Syria was once closely associated, and for a while even united with, Nasser´s U.S. hostile Eygptian regime and throughout the years it has maintained friendly relations not only with Russia but also with China and even North Korea. In an effort to demonstrate its strength and presence, as well as to bolster its claim of effectively suppressing ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) the U.S. is supporting the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (Rojava) through is Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR). The military operations of CJTF–OIR are coordinated by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and carried out by U.S. military forces supported by personnel from over 30 countries. 2 Turkey supports the so-called Interim Government, consisting of at least five armed sections/parties.

ISIL and its former ally, turned foe, the Al-Nusra Front, constitute other warring factions. Al-Nusra is a Salafist3 fighting force aiming at converting Syria into a full-fledged Islamic nation. Suffering from this mayhem are millions of civilians. I have met a few of them. Among my best pupils when I worked as a high school teacher in Sweden were two orphaned brothers from Aleppo and on the train to work I often talked to a former medical doctor from Homs who sustained his family by selling carpets. These friends and acquaintances experienced their adjustment to Swedish society as quite cumbersome, though they were grateful for escaping the Syrian inferno and not like millions of their compatriots having to suffer misery in refugee camps, or risking their lives during efforts to reach uncertain security in Europe.

I obtained my most profound and long-lasting impressions of Syria when I in 1978, together with some good friends, traveled through this nation by bus or hitchhiking. Everywhere, we were met with generosity and friendship. An unexpected discovery was that Syria, this vast territory of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, was virtually littered with remains of cities, palaces and temples erected by Accadians, Amorites, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Jews, Armenians, Nabateans, Lakhmids, Ghassanids, Mongols, Kurds, Circassians, Mandeans, and Turkmens. A bustling patchwork at the crossroads between the East and the Mediterranean. Syrian cities had grown and become cosmopolitan hubs, wellsprings of culture, art, and philosophy. Here religions had been born and mixed in places like Ebla, Antioch, Emesa, Tyre, Sidon, Bostra, Palmyra, Baalbek, Dura-Europos, Damascus and Aleppo. Magnificent buildings had been left by Umayyads, Christian crusaders, and Ottomans.

Even ignorant youngsters like us discerned and appreciated this vibrant culture, visiting churches and mosques and while enjoying the exquisite Syrian cuisine we were able to converse with people in the cafés of Aleppo and Damascus, finding that some of them spoke English or French. However, we were also confronted with poverty and repression. Remaining with me is the sight of a legless man sitting in a wheeled box above a pool of urine while begging under the light of a lamp post in Aleppo. In a square in Damascus, we saw something looking like four lamp posts by which a wooden stage had been erected. When we asked what it was, someone explained that four ”criminals” had been hanged early in the morning, in full view of an interested congregation. The bodies of the executed men had been wrapped in sheets with their names, date of birth and a description of the crime they had committed. ”The stage” had been used by ”students” who had enacted their crimes. We also heard horrifying tales about oppression by the Assad regime, particularly in Aleppo people seemed to be opposed to the corrupt circle around the self-divinized president Hafez al-Assad, calling him al-Muqaddas, ”the sanctified one”.

Four years after our visit, the Syrian Army had in the town of Hama at the orders of Hafez al-Assad ”quelled an uprising” by the Muslim Brotherhood, destroying a large part of the city while killing an estimated 20,000 civilians.. 4 This was a premonition of the carnage and misery that was to follow.

By the beginning of the 1980s, Hafez al-Assad, who most of his life suffered from diabetes, felt that his health was deteriorating and thus began looking for a successor. His first choice was his brother Rifaat al-Assad, who when Hafez in November 1983 suffered a massive heart attack complicated by phlebitis announced his candidacy for president. This angered Hafez al-Assad who after recovering declared that he was not going to be succeeded by Rifaat. His brother answered by staging a failed military coup. Hafez al-Assad now began to groom his son Bassel al-Assad for the presidency, creating a personality cult around him. However, when Bassel in 1994 died in a car accident his father called back his other son, 29-year-old Bashar, from London, where he underwent postgraduate training in ophthalmology.

Bashar al-Assad´s fellow students have described him as a ”geeky guy engulfed in Information Technology”, reserved and softspoken Bashar avoided eye contact and appeared to be uninterested in politics. 5 Nevertheless, as soon as the apparently undistinguished Bashar had returned to Damascus his father sent him to the military academy at Homs. He toughened, rose in the ranks and ended up as a colonel of the elite Syrian Republican Army. When Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, Bashar assumed power, surprising everyone by making Syria’s ”link with Hezbollah – and its patrons in Teheran – the central component of his security doctrine”, 6 while he continued his father´s outspoken critic of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Meanwhile, the fragile network of tolerance between different ethnoreligious groups disintegrated, politicians and military commanders fought for power and influence, while foreign powers increasingly interfered in factional quarrels.

After the entire nation on 15 March 2011 became embrolied in a ruthless civil war, the age-old cities of Aleppo, Homs, and Hama have been totally destroyed; their mosques, palaces, souqs and quasbas, several of them world heritage sites, are in ruins. Worst than the irreversible damage wrecked on homes, world heritage and a multi-faceted and generally indulgent society is the incomprehensible suffering of individuals; men, women, and children, caught up in precarious situations they cannot control while being used as pawns in cynical power games. In March 2018, the death toll of the Syrian war was estimated at 511,000. 7 On the 4th of August this year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had 5,626.914 Syrian refugees registered 8 and estimated that 6.2 million individuals were internally displaced. 9 These are statistics, figures, though it is important to realize that every number stands for a human being. We may read and talk about the hardship affecting those who have survived the carnage – refugees and internally displaced persons – but is it really possible to discern the suffering affecting each and every one of them? Can we really not do anything to understand and help them?